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Former Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle concedes that she lost the 24th Congressional District race to Dan Maffei during a press conference in November 2012 outside the Federal Building in downtown Syracuse. She was surrounded by her staff and supporters. House records show Buerkle made $42,000 in parting payments to her staff after losing the election.
(Lauren Long / The Post-Standard)

In their November 2012 rematch, Buerkle and her supporters paid for at least two TV ads in Syracuse that blasted Maffei for the practice.

"Don't forget about the $200,000 in bonuses that he paid to his staff after he lost the election and closed down his offices," one Buerkle commercial reminded voters. It was part of Buerkle's conservative campaign for smaller government, spending cuts and a focus on the national debt and deficit.

Asked about the extra payments to her staff, Buerkle said she did not break her own promise against paying bonuses to departing staff.

Buerkle said the lump-sum payments for her staffers -- listed on official House records submitted by her office as "other compensation" - compensated employees for unused vacation time.

"The payments made in January 2013 to my staff members were lump-sum payments for accumulated and accrued annual leave when he or she separated from congressional service effective Jan. 2, 2013," Buerkle said in an email response to questions.

Buerkle said "these were monies legally owed to my staff."

While the payments are permitted, no policy exists in the House of Representatives requiring staff to be paid for accrued leave or unused vacation time.

One longtime congressional watchdog in Washington, D.C., said Buerkle may have found a new label for lump-sum payments that are usually described as a severance bonus.

"I have never heard of paying for accrued leave or vacation time," said Craig Holman, of the nonpartisan group Public Citizen. "It sounds like a way to reward her staff and not call it a bonus."

He added, "Full-time employees in the executive branch enjoy that benefit, but it's not something you see among congressional staff."

Those who work in federal agencies typically receive lump-sum payments for accrued leave - up to certain limits - when they leave their job. But Congress has no similar policy or requirement for departing staffers.

"How an office pays their staff is up to the office," said Dan Weiser, a spokesman for the Chief Administrative Officer of the House. "Each member of the House has their own employing authority."

The House sets limits only on the amount a staffer can be paid each year. Total compensation for each staffer cannot exceed a member's salary of $174,000 per year.

The money for those expenses comes from each member's annual House allowance, or budget, of about $1.3 million. The allowance pays the congressional office's expenses and salaries. Any money from the budget left over at the end of the year is returned to the House.

Other House members from Upstate New York don't allow staffers to accumulate vacation or leave time from one year to the next.

Rep. Richard Hanna, R-Barneveld, who represents part of Central New York, is among those with a "use it or lose it" policy.

Hanna requires staffers to use their vacation days or leave during the calendar year. Any unused days are forfeited without compensation at the end of the year.

Maffei and Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, have the same policy. So do U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Buerkle chose a different policy: She allowed employees to carry over their accrued leave into the next year.

Watch Buerkle's TV ad about Maffei bonuses

Buerkle's former chief of staff, Tim Drumm, said the employees were given a policy handbook that promised they would be paid for any accrued leave when they ended their employment.

Drumm noted that a 2010 survey of House compensation and benefits found 72 percent of the responding offices paid departing employees for unused leave. But that study, completed for the Chief Administrative Officer of the House, received responses from only 30 percent of the 435 House offices.

Some members of Congress, including Maffei, have defended the extra payments as a reward to staffers who work long hours without overtime, and make less money than those in the private sector.

Tom Schatz, president of the Washington group Citizens Against Government Waste, was critical of Maffei's office bonuses in 2011. He said it appears Buerkle has done the same thing.

"Most private sector organizations, particularly small businesses can't afford to pay for accumulated and unused leave," said Schatz, a former Capitol Hill staffer for the late Rep. Hamilton Fish, R-N.Y.

"I don't recall anything like that," Schatz said of the payment for unused vacation. "It was 'Use it or lose it.' It's a convenient statement for Buerkle to make. If the congresswoman had stayed, what would have happened, would she have allowed her staff to carry that vacation over to the next year?"

Buerkle gave the largest lump-sum payments to her top-ranking staffers with the highest salaries. Drumm received $9,444, according to House records. Former District Director Nancy Lowery received $7,083 as a parting payment.

In one case, a constituent service representative who was paid $48,000 per year received a $4,000 lump-sum payment.

Drumm, citing privacy reasons, declined to provide records that would confirm each employee was entitled to the extra compensation. But he did provide a copy of his own payroll record that showed he had 25 days of unused vacation time.

Maffei gave out larger lump-sum payments, on average, to his staff - totaling almost $200,000 - when he left office in January 2011.

Maffei explained at the time that he had the lowest paid staff in the New York congressional delegation, and he promised to try to close the gap with year-end bonuses.

Buerkle began a new job this summer as an appointed Republican commissioner on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. She is paid about $155,000 per year.

Buerkle hired Lowery as her special assistant at the federal agency. Lowery is now paid $89,033 per year at the independent federal agency.